TBL at the Hoo-Ha!

Over the past weekend (June 9-10) several members of the Bike Lane team headed down to Massanutten resort for the annual Hoo-Ha. Events included the Super D and Short Track on Saturday, and the XXC and XC on Sunday. It was a hot weekend, reaching up to 98 degrees on Sunday, but the trails were in great shape and ready for an excellent weekend of racing.

Beth Fulton and Karen Talley Mead headed down on Saturday for the Super D and Short Track events. Beth and Karen both raced the Women’s Pro/Expert Super D, placing 9th and 10th, and Karen also raced the Short Track, placing 4th.

More teammates came down for Sunday’s cross country race. The first events of the morning were the XXC and the Beginner races. Mike Buchness raced the 32 mile XXC and came in 6th in his class. Elaine Hess and Jill Eanes were the next to start for the 8 mile beginner course.

Later that morning, eight more TBLers headed to the start of the XC race. Our Sport men raced one lap of the course for 12 miles. Marc Genberg, Paul Hardy, Brad Hawk, and George Shultz started together in the same wave. For most of the race, they could be spotted riding pretty close together before they started to spread out on the last long climb. Brad was the first TBLer to finish, placing 5th in the Sport Men 19-39. Paul took 2nd in the Sport Men 40-49 with George right behind him in 3rd. Marc was right behind them both until his cleat came unscrewed from his shoe. Without anything to keep his foot from slipping off the pedal, he lost some time on the last descent, but still managed a 10th place finish. G Shultz raced the Sport Men Junior class, and came in just behind the rest of the guys and finishing 9th in his class.

The ladies however, went out for another lap. Karen Talley Mead, Beth Fulton, and Anne Mader represented the Bike Lane in the Women’s Pro/Expert category and took on 24 miles of big rocks and bigger climbs. Karen finished in 7th place and Beth in 8th. If there was a place for “Most interesting ride of the day,” Anne certainly would have won it. She broke her chain at the top of the mountain, and instead of getting down the easy way by taking the road, she took the trail and rode the last several miles of the course without a chain.